The chairman of Natural England Poul Christensen at the Hay Festival explains
why middle England must embrace new technologies.

Middle England needs to get over its fear of new technologies like genetic modification (GM) and large scale farms if they want to continue to enjoy cheap food, according to the head of Natural England.

So called 'Frankenstein foods' caused an uproar in the 1990s and recently protesters threatened to rip up a trial crop of GM wheat.

But speaking atHay Festival, Poul Christensen CBE, Chairman of Natural England, said the world needs "all the technology we can get to feed the growing population".

"As a species we have always embraced technology. There have been some disasters and therefore we have to be extraordinarily careful with our ability to manipulate genes but I do not think we should turn our back on it.

"There are some very important societal judgements we have to make. I think we should embrace science that has increased production."

His comments signal a u-turn for the Government agency. In 2008, the Natural England warned then Prime Minister Gordon Brown not to "rush headlong into rushing headlong to embrace GM crops as the solution to rising food prices".

Mr Christensen, who is himself a dairy farmer, also said 'Middle England' has to get used to larger farms.

He claimed that larger farms can still be managed to protect wildlife because of EU payments.

While he supported small farmers and diversity, he pointed out that it is now incredibly hard work for small scale producers to survive.

"Middle England wants to go back to an idyll that does not exist anymore. They are almost sentencing people to a life of real hard graft. I do not think society should be afraid of farm size they should be afraid of degradation of the natural landscape.

"I think GM is in the same category as large scale farms in the sense people should not necessarily be afraid of it."

GM has recently been back in the news after protesters threatened to rip up a trial of insect resistant wheat at Rothamsted Research.

Mr Christensen said scientific trials should be allowed to proceed.

"We have to go on investing in science to feed the world we just have to have very very rigorouis checks and balances to ensure we do not let the genie out of the bottle."